iso  ate 


or 


The  Providence 
of  Good 


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THE   PROVIDENCE 
OF  GOOD 


PROTECTION    IN    BUSINESS 
"THE  HOUSEHOLD  OF  GOD" 
"I    SHALL    NOT   WANT" 
HEALING    IN  BUSINESS 
"BE    OF    GOOD    CHEER" 
THE    PROVIDENCE    OF    LOVE 
HERE    AND    HEREAFTER 


Articles  republished  from  the 
Christian  Science  periodicals 


THE  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE  PUBLISHING  SOCIETY 

''FALMOUTH  AND  ST.  PAUL  STREETS 

BOSTON,    MASSACHUSETTS 

U.  S.  A. 


Copyright,  1912,  by 
THE  CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE  PUBLISHING  SOCIETY. 


THE    PROVIDENCE    OF    GOOD 


PROTECTION    IN    BUSINESS 

ALL  persons  who  are  doing  the  world's  work  are 
engaged  in  enterprises  which  supply  in  one  way 
or  another  the  needs  of  their  fellow  men,  and  in  return 
for  their  labors  a  just  wage  is  supposed  to  meet  their 
need.  In  the  business  field  the  belief  in  evil,  how- 
ever, works  such  havoc  upon  the  ideals  and  purposes 
and  plans  with  which  men  set  out  that  the  most 
sturdy  and  the  most  honest  often  meet  misfortune; 
trials  multiply  about  the  best  endeavors,  and  failures 
crowd  thickly  where  success  should  stand.  To  this 
unhappy  condition  Christian  Science  brings  a  positive 
remedy,  for  it  teaches  each  individual  to  conquer  his 
own  belief  in  evil,  and  so  begins  to  set  him  free  from 
the  effects  of  the  general  belief  in  evil. 

Many  men  in  the  business  life  have  wrought  out 
much  of  that  spirit  which  is  called  the  golden  rule. 
Hand  in  hand  with  this  endeavor,  however,  has  gone 
the  fear  of  calamity  and  the  educated  expectation 
that  avarice  and  greed  will  prevail  where  simple  good- 
ness fails.  Experience  points  to  this  as  fact,  say  the 
worldly-wise.  Christian  Science  reverses  this  belief, 
and  proves  step  by  step  in  the  life  of  its  followers 

3 

363197 


4  THE    PROVIDENCE    OF    GOOD 

that  right  thinking  and  right  doing  prevail  by  divine 
authority.  The  main  issue  lies  in  this:  the  well- 
meaning  business  man  uninstructed  by  Christian 
Science  believes  and  fears  that  his  best  efforts  to  do 
right  may  be  unavailing,  for  he  thinks  that  evil  has 
power;  the  same  man  enlightened  by  some  under- 
standing of  Christian  Science  will  learn  that  evil  is 
not  endowed  by  God  with  power,  and  that  he  himself 
must  not  invest  it  with  power,  and  that  he  may  reason- 
ably expect  his  righteous  endeavors  to  be  blessed.  So 
Christian  Science  changes  the  situation. 

The  Christian  Scientist's  chiefest  concern  in  his 
business  life  is  whether  or  not  he  is  obeying  the 
demands  of  God  in  every  detail  of  his  work;  whether 
he  is  choosing  that  which  will  bring  the  greatest  good 
to  the  greatest  number  rather  than  that  which  brings 
good  only  to  himself;  whether  he  serves  his  employer 
as  he  himself  would  like  to  be  served;  whether  he 
spares  his  competitor  as  he  would  like  to  be  spared; 
whether,  in  short,  he  loves  his  neighbor  as  himself. 
Being  a  Christian  Scientist  is  indeed  an  altruistic 
business.  It  calls  for  the  surrender  of  self-interest, 
that  the  welfare  of  the  whole  may  be  considered.  It 
teaches  man  to  find  his  life,  as  did  the  master  Chris- 
tian, by  laying  it  down  for  others.  The  business  world 
sorely  needs  this  spirit;  for  what  calls  more  urgently 
for  purification  than  politics  and  business  the  world 
over?  What  is  more  vital  than  the  relation  of  capital 
and  labor,  producer  and  consumer,  employer  and  em- 
ployee? What  more  important  than  salvation  in  the 


PROTECTION    IN    BUSINESS  5 

workshop,  the  factory,  the  markets,  and  the  fields? 
Surely,  "an  angel  with  a  flaming  sword"  should  come 
among  us!  And  seeing  this,  the  Christian  Scientist 
strives  to  be,  like  his  Master,  about  his  "Father's 
business"  first,  knowing  that  all  will  be  well  with  him 
if  he  succeeds  in  serving  God. 

Having  then  the  demand  of  his  God  for  his  first 
concern,  and  discerning  through  the  teaching  of  Chris- 
tian Science  that  God  is  Principle,  and  that  as  Prin- 
ciple He  is  available  in  the  minutiae  of  human  affairs, 
the  business  man  thereby  insures  protection  for  his 
business.  Christian  Science  does  not  promise  him 
that  he  shall  have  all  he  sets  his  heart  upon;  that 
whatever  his  will  outlines  shall  be  accomplished;  that 
he  of  himself  can  dominate  anything.  Such  mental 
methods  are  of  human  origin  and  have  nothing  in 
common  with  Christlikeness ;  and  the  Christian  Scien- 
tist must  watch  lest  he  mistake  the  belief  of  commer- 
cial success  or  worldly  advancement  for  the  evidences 
of  divine  protection  and  supply.  The  kingdom  of 
God  is  the  thing  to  seek;  the  success  in  human  affairs 
which  is  "added"  to  the  righteous  seeker  is  far  differ- 
ent from  the  perishing  success  of  selfish  plans  and 
policies.  The  one  is  the  shifting  and  insecure  effect 
of  the  human  will;  the  other  the  multiplication  of 
good,  God-blessed. 

The  very  first  lessons  in  Christian  Science  teach 
the  beginner  this  distinction,  and  encourage  the  activ- 
ity of  good  in  all  his  work.  .The  student  sees  the 
medieval  belief  that  might  is  right  displaced  by  a 


6  THE    PROVIDENCE    OF    GOOD 

growing  righteousness  that  proves  its  own  might  as 
fast  as  it  is  adopted  and  practised.  He  sees  the  doc- 
trine of  the  "survival  of  the  fittest'*  newly  applied, 
broadly  and  universally,  in  the  survival  of  good  every- 
where, and  in  the  destruction  of  evil.  He  loses  pleas- 
ure in  selfish  gain  and  finds  his  joy  in  the  business 
of  bringing  good  to  others.  Doing  this,  he  places  him- 
self under  the  protection  of  the  divine  Mind  which  he 
is  striving  to  serve,  and  his  business,  whatever  outward 
form  it  may  take,  thrives  accordingly.  If  his  own 
mental  attitude  is  right,  the  law  of  God  becomes  a  law 
in  his  life  and  in  all  his  affairs,  and  he  may  expect 
help  and  protection  from  it  to  the  extent  he  demon- 
strates it.  In  this  way  Christian  Science  rescues  the 
business  man;  fits  him  for  a  truer  service;  perfects 
him  in  what  he  is  doing;  finds  for  him  better  things 
to  do,  or  makes  him  content  with  what  he  finds  to  do; 
gives  him,  in  short,  a  wiser,  happier,  sweeter  spirit  in 
all  his  relations  with  his  fellow  men.  This  is  itself 
success,  and  brings  success.  The  understanding  of 
Truth,  as  Christian  Science  teaches  it,  makes  a  mortal 
first  worthy  of  protection,  and  then  protects  him. 


"THE    HOUSEHOLD    OF    GOD" 

WHAT  does  it  mean  to  belong  to  a  household? 
It  means  to  be  a  member  of  a  family,  a  par- 
ticipant in  all  the  experiences  and  daily  life  of  a 
family.  In  the  second  chapter  of  his  epistle  to  the 
Ephesians  the  apostle  Paul  sums  up  his  discourse  on 
what  we  were  by  nature  and  what  we  are  by  grace, 
with  this  comforting  conclusion:  "Therefore  ye  are  no 
more  strangers  and  foreigners,  but  fellow  citizens  with 
the  saints,  and  of  the  household  of  God."  Then  we 
who  have  been  saved  by  grace  are  "of  the  household 
of  God,"  members  of  His  family. 

In  Christian  Science  we  learn  that  God's  household 
is  the  only  real  household,  and  that  it  is  universal, 
spiritual,  perfect,  harmonious,  and  eternal.  In  this 
household  God  is  the  Father-Mother,  and  man  is  His 
child.  God  loves,  protects,  feeds,  clothes,  instructs, 
influences,  controls,  and  governs  His  entire  household, 
in  which  all  is  good  and  the  divine  law  is  the  only 
law  operating  in  or  affecting  it.  The  divine  gov- 
ernment is  supreme,  imperative,  absolute,  and  eternal, 
and  it  is  never  interfered  with,  cut  off,  obstructed,  or 
reversed  by  evil  of  any  name  or  nature. 

In  this  real  household  of  Spirit,  man,  all  spiritual 
individualities,  live,  move,  and  have  their  being,  now 
and  forever.  Fear,  worry,  discord,  lack,  sin,  sickness, 

7 


8  THE    PROVIDENCE    OF    GOOD 

and  death,  have  no  place,  no  presence,  no  power,  no 
law,  no  influence,  and  no  manifestation  in  this  house- 
hold or  kingdom  of  God.  Omnipotent  Mind  is  the 
only  Mind  ever  known,  recognized,  or  acknowledged 
as  power,  influence,  or  control  in  this  perfect  house- 
hold. Matter,  mortal  mind,  sin,  disease,  and  death, 
were  not  created  by  our  Father-Mother  God,  therefore 
they  are  not  elements  or  entities  in  the  real  house- 
hold, and  they  have  no  relationship  whatever  with  its 
inmates.  • 

The  spiritual  and  harmonious  household  was  from 
the  beginning,  is  now,  and  ever  will  be:  We  enter  into 
conscious  membership  with  it  and  come  into  possession 
of  our  birthright  and  privileges  as  we  turn  from  the 
beliefs  of  life,  substance,  and  intelligence  in  matter 
to  the  truth  of  being — from  materiality  to  Spirit,  God. 
There  is  no  other  door  and  no  other  way. 


"I    SHALL    NOT    WANT" 

ECONOMIC  questions  of  demand  and  supply  are 
fundamental  to  human  existence.  The  problem 
of  "getting  a  living,"  in  one  form  or  another,  con- 
fronts every  member  of  the  human  family.  From  the 
materialist  who  frankly  admits  that  he  grubs  for 
dollars,  to  the  idealist  who  exhibits  a  fine  indifference 
to  petty  problems  of  finance,  all  mortals,  according  to 
the  law  of  belief,  are  under  the  necessity  of  earning 
their  bread  in  the  sweat  of  their  brow.  In  fact,  this 
was  one  of  the  first  condemnatory  laws  formulated  in 
the  Adam-allegory.  Ever  since  then  it  has  been  true 
of  all  who  are  "in  Adam/'  that  they  have  labored 
painfully  to  sustain  a  material  sense  of  existence. 

The  struggle  of  mortals  to  gain  a  livelihood  pre- 
sents a  composite  picture  of  all  the  traits  of  the  human 
mind.  Selfishness,  greed,  injustice,  envy,  hate,  re- 
venge, anxiety,  fear — all  these  play  their  ignoble  part 
in  the  daily  round  of  commerce.  This  struggle  has 
gone  on  for  many  hundreds  of  years,  apparently  with- 
out any  change,  except  that  the  gradations  of  belief 
as  to  riches  and  poverty  have  become  more  pronounced 
and  more  sharply  defined.  Mortals  have  sickened  and 
died  in  their  frantic  effort  to  keep  alive  and  to  amass 
a  fortune.  Every  crime  on  the  calendar  has  been 
committed  because  of  the  lust  for  possession,  until  it 

f) 


10  THE    PROVIDENCE    OF    GOOD 

is  no  wonder  that  the  apostle  said,  "The  love  of 
money  is  the  root  of  all  evil."  Not  many,  in  fact, 
have  shared  the  lofty  views  of  the  poet  Shelley,  who 
said:  "I  desire  money,  because  I  think  I  know  the  use 
of  it.  It  commands  labor,  it  gives  leisure ;  and  to  give 
leisure  to  those  who  will  employ  it  in  the  forwarding 
of  truth,  is  the  noblest  present  an  individual  can  make 
to  the  whole." 

Although,  as  Mrs.  Eddy  says,  "the  Bible  contains 
the  recipe  for  all  healing"  (Science  and  Health, 
p.  406),  it  had  nevertheless  not  occurred  to  mortals  to 
seek  therein  a  satisfactory  solution  of  the  problem  of 
maintaining  an  existence,  until  Mrs.  Eddy  boldly 
declared  that  the  Science  of  Christianity  is  alone  ade- 
quate to  supply  a  satisfying  answer  to  every  vexing 
economic  question.  Christian  Science  proclaims  itself 
to  be  the  revelation  of  truth,  and  as  such  it  must  be 
able  to  correct  every  phase  of  error.  It  follows,  there- 
fore, that  "as  in  Adam  all  die," — and  before  they  die 
struggle  with  varying  success  to  lay  up  treasure 
"where  moth  and  rust  doth  corrupt," — "even  so  in 
Christ  shall  all  be  made  alive;"  and  at  the  same  time 
all  shall  learn  that  man's  being  is  sustained  by  Prin- 
ciple, and  that  amply,  bountifully,  harmoniously, 
without  friction,  without  restriction  or  limitation,  with- 
out weary  effort,  without  discouragement  and  disap- 
pointment, without  possibility  of  failure  or  loss. 

This  is  the  lesson  that  Christian  Science  is  teaching 
today,  and  it  has  already  had  an  appreciable  effect 
in  modifying  the  sordid  efforts  to  lay  up  wealth  for 


"I    SHALL    NOT   WANT"  11 

wealth's  sake,  and  in  ameliorating  the  sick  and  sinful 
conditions  which  have  usually  followed  such  efforts. 
Sisyphus  represents  mythology's  man, — toiling  pain- 
fully up  the  hill,  rolling  before  him  the  great  rock  of 
human  accomplishment;  seeking  to  gain  the  summit, 
but  always  failing,  and  forever  beginning  again  the 
weary  task  that  is  never  completed.  The  prophet 
aptly  summed  it  up  when  he  inquired,  "Wherefore  do 
ye  spend  money  for  that  which  is  not  bread  ?  and  your 
labor  for  that  which  satisfieth  not?"  Christian  Science 
presents  the  real  man, — the  only  man,  as  sustained  by 
God,  having  his  being  in  infinite  Mind;  in  receipt  of 
all  that  infinity  has  to  bestow;  lacking  no  resource  or 
opportunity;  equipped,  supplied,  maintained,  directed, 
and  governed  by  his  cause,  his  heavenly  Father,  who 
loves  him  well  and  who  has  given  him  "richly  all 
things  to  enjoy."  Paul  says,  "All  things  are  yours;" 
and  Christian  Science  bids  the  world  believe  this,  and 
niake  it  practical  by  living  as  though  it  were  true. 

In  correcting  the  errors  which  accompany  the  human 
sense  of  supply,  Christian  Science  gives  a  new  idea 
of  substance  entirely  different  from  that  which  mor- 
tals have  been  accustomed  to  entertain.  It  also  tells 
the  truth  about  the  source  of  man's  supply.  Thus  it 
appears  that,  according  to  belief,  what  a  man  pos- 
sesses— the  substance  of  his  supply — is  perverted  and 
misconceived,  and  is  called  material.  Christian  Sci- 
ence declares  that  inasmuch  as  man  is  the  creation  of 
Mind,  and  is  endowed  by  Mind,  he  is  in  reality  sup- 
plied with  an  abundance  of  right  ideas.  Mrs.  Eddy 


12  THE    PROVIDENCE    OP    GOOD 

says  in  "Miscellaneous  Writings"  (p.  307),  "God 
gives  you  His  spiritual  ideas,  and  in  turn,  they  give 
you  daily  supplies." 

It  must  be  evident  that  nothing  but  lack  of  spiritual 
perception  prevents  us  from  seeing  our  supply  as  it 
really  is,  viz.,  as  substantial  ideas.  As  our  thought, 
through  the  study  of  Christian  Science,  becomes  ex- 
alted above  the  limited  sense  of  supply,  we  shall 
understand  the  Science  of  Jesus'  statement:  "Seek  ye 
first  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  his  righteousness;  and 
all  these  things  shall  be  added  unto  you."  In  other 
words,  we  are  not  expected  to  make  a  god  of  material 
supply  or  wealth;  we  are  not  expected  to  allow  the 
accumulation  of  material  substance  to  become  the 
primary  object  in  life.  Discerning  by  the  aid  of 
Christian  Science  the  true  nature  of  substance,  we 
learn  to  set  our  affections  on  things  above;  and  then 
"all  these  things"  are  added  unto  us,  because  we  have 
learned  the  truth  about  substance  and  supply. 


HEALING    IN  .BUSINESS 

JESUS  said,  by  way  of  emphasizing  a  point  in  his 
teaching,  "They  that  are  whole  need  not  a  phy- 
sician; but  they  that  are  sick/'  and  no  man  before  or 
since  the  time  of  our  Master  has  been  so  well  qualified 
to  speak  from  the  standpoint  of  successful  practice 
concerning  the  sphere  of  the  physician  and  the  needs 
of  his  patient.  He  indeed  was  the  healer  who  gave  to 
sin  no  more  power  or  legitimacy  than  he  did  to  sick- 
ness, and  he  healed  both  with  equal  readiness  and  cer- 
tainty. We  have  no  record  of  his  ever  losing  a  case. 
His  cures  were  instantaneous.  Many  of  them  were 
made  in  the  absence  of  his  patient,  and  all  of  them 
were  undertaken  regardless  of  the  nature  of  the  dis- 
ease. He  drew  no  line  of  distinction  between  func- 
tional and  organic  ailments,  and  in  his  presence  the 
word  incurable  dropped  out  of  the  language  of  men. 
Nor  were  his  cures  confined  to  diseases  of  the  body 
alone.  He  truly  ministered  to  the  mind  diseased, 
as  when,  with  a  word,  he  restored  to  sanity  and  de- 
cency the  escaped  lunatic  who  had  long  terrorized  the 
countryside,  and  when  he  healed  the  various  other 
cases  of  mental  disorders  mentioned  in  the  Scriptures. 
Nor  was  he  neglectful  of  the  material  wants  of 
those  in  need.  When  a  wedding  of  his  friends  to 
which  he  was  invited  lacked  an  essential  to  the  proper 
13 


H  THE    PROVIDENCE    OF    GOOD 

entertainment  of  the  guests,  he  readily  supplied  it. 
When  the  business  of  certain  of  his  associates  was 
dull  because  they  had  none  of  their  usual  commodity 
to  sell,  he  showed  them  how  to  cast  their  nets  on  the 
right  side,  and  thereupon  they  received  a  bigger  stock 
of  goods  than  they  could  conveniently  handle.  When 
he  was  traveling  overland  with  a  great  throng  of 
people  in  a  country  where  provisions  were  scarce,  he 
provided  a  substantial  repast  that  not  only  satisfied 
every  one's  hunger,  but  had  enough  left  over  to  feed 
many  more.  And  when  his  companions  on  another 
occasion  were  short  of  ready  money  to  pay  taxes  due, 
he  told  them  exactly  how  to  raise  the  sum  required 
without  delay  or  embarrassment. 

These  familiar  instances  show  us  that  the  great 
Physician  and  Metaphysician,  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  re- 
garded man's  mind,  body,  or  estate,  when  disordered 
or  deficient,  alike  the  legitimate  subjects  for  the 
employment  of  his  healing  powers.  A  slight  under- 
standing of  Christian  Science  reveals  that  he  used  one 
and  the  same  curative  Principle  in  restoring  them  all. 

The  availability  of  infinite  Mind  to  heal  "all  man- 
ner of  disease,"  bodily,  mental,  and  material,  is  the 
same  today  as  it  was  in  Jesus'  time.  He  used  it  then 
in  all  the  affairs  of  men  that  needed  adjustment,  and 
Christian  Science  is  today  following  his  example.  It 
is  as  available  and  effective  for  healing  a  sick  business 
as  it  is  for  healing  a  sick  body,  and  he  has  shown  us 
that  it  is  rightly  to  be  employed  in  healing  both. 

Christian  Science  in  healing  a  sick  business  really 


HEALING    IN    BUSINESS  15 

heals  those  mental  disorders  that  lead  to  failure.  The 
business  man  in  distress  who  turns  to  Christian  Sci- 
ence for  relief  finds  his  worry  replaced  by  confidence, 
doubt  by  assurance,  discouragement  by  good  cheer, 
and  greed  by  kindliness.  Good  things  begin  to  come 
his  way;  obstacles  and  difficulties  that  seemed  moun- 
tain high  dwindle  into  mole-hills  that  he  can  easily 
step  over,  and  he  again  plans  with  sagacity  and  exe- 
cutes with  vigor.  Mrs.  Eddy  on  page  128  of  "Science 
and  Health  with  Key  to  the  Scriptures"  says:  "Busi- 
ness men  and  cultured  scholars  have  found  that  Chris- 
tian Science  enhances  their  endurance  and  mental 
powers,  enlarges  their  perception  of  character,  gives 
them  acuteness  and  comprehensiveness  and  an  ability 
to  exceed  their  ordinary  capacity." 

The  condition  of  a  man's  business  and  the  condition 
of  his  thought  are  apparently  interdependent  and 
homogeneous,  but  in  reality  his  thinking  is  causative 
and  his  business  the  effect.  Christian  Science  incul- 
cates right  thinking  about  all  the  essentials  of  living, 
including  occupation,  profession,  business.  This 
thinking  being  measurably  in  accord  with  the  laws  of 
God — the  source  of  all  real  p'ower — is  dynamic,  effi- 
cient, influential,  and  its  effects  are  noticeable  in 
whatever  direction  it  may  be  turned.  As  it  is  poten- 
tial for  good  only,  its  results  are  never  selfish,  subver- 
sive, or  depressing,  but  always  constructive,  buoyant, 
beneficent. 


"BE    OF    GOOD    CHEER" 

/CHRISTIAN  SCIENCE  maintains  that  good  is 
^/  the  heritage  of  man,  that  it  is  the  only  legiti- 
mate legacy  to  which  he  is  heir.  Christian  Science 
teaches  that  man's  unity  with  God,  divine  Principle, 
has  always  been  established,  and  shows  the  connec- 
tion to  be  so  intimate  that  he  is  even  the  "express 
image"  of  God.  Loose  reasoning  on  the  part  of  man- 
kind has  to  a  great  extent  deprived  them  of  the 
direct  aid  of  this  Principle  in  the  daily  affairs  of  life, 
for  divine  Principle  is  ever  available  in  the  solution 
of  every  problem,  as  the  laws  of  numbers  are  always 
operative  to  rectify  mistakes  in  matters  of  accounting. 
But  the  Principle  must  be  understood  before  it  can  be 
applied.  It  is  not  a  question  of  mysticism;  for  mysti- 
cism which  is  based  on  ignorance  and  superstition 
is  as  dust  'in  the  eyes  to  spiritual  understanding,  a 
spurious  substitute  for  knowledge  which  is  at  once 
available,  absolute,  and  real. 

But,  the  question  may  be  asked,  if  man  can  reflect 
good  alone,  why  the  glumness  of  his  countenance  at 
times?  While  spiritual  man,  known  of  God,  reflects 
good  alone,  mortals  believe  that  evil  exists  as  a 
genuine  power  in  opposition  to  good  and  that  a  man 
is  under  the  dominion  of  both  good  and  evil.  When 
a  man  so  believes  in  the  power  or  influence  or  activity 
16 


"BE    OF    GOOD    CHEER"  17 

of  evil  in  any  form,  fear  seizes  upon,  him,  showing 
itself  in  his  demeanor,  depressing  him,  throwing  over 
him  a  sense  of  sadness,  driving  from  him  the  cheerful- 
ness which  should  be  the  constant  partner  of  those 
who  are  living  under  the  providence  of  God,  good,  the 
only  power.  Cheerfulness  is  the  outcome  of  an 
entirely  scientific  attitude  of  mind. 

Perhaps  we  may  remember  that  before  Christ  Jesus 
healed  the  paralytic  man  by  forgiving  his  sins  (that 
is,  destroying  his  belief  in  the  power  of  evil),  he 
spoke  these  words:  "Be  of  good  cheer;  thy  sins  be 
forgiven  thee."  When  he  approached  his  anxious  dis- 
ciples on  the  storm-tossed  sea,  his  glad  hail  to  them 
was,  "Be  of  good  cheer:  it  is  I;  be  not  afraid."  And 
again,  when  he  comforted  his  faithful  followers,  grad- 
ually being  educated  in  spiritual  law  out  of  the  mate- 
rialism in  which  he  had  found  them,  with  the  days  of 
stress  before  him  when  he  was  to  prove  life  to  be 
indestructible,  his  encouraging  words  were,  "Be  of 
good  cheer;  I  have  overcome  the  world."  No  one 
could  have  contemplated  the  tribulations  which  he 
had  to  face  and  have  given  such  encouragement,  had 
he  not  known  that  of  which  the  world  was  profoundly 
ignorant, — the  all-powerfulness  of  good.  In  the  orig- 
inal Greek  text,  of  which  the  authorized  version  of 
the  New  Testament  is  a  translation,  the  word  ren- 
dered "cheer"  in  the  above  passage  conveys  something 
more  than  the  common  meaning  attached  to  the  word; 
it  is  much  more  emphatic,  for  it  means  cheer  resulting 
from  confidence  or  assurance. 


18  THE    PROVIDENCE    OF    GOOD 

It  will  be  noticed  that  Jesus,  when  he  invited  them 
to  be  of  good  cheer,  gave  the  reason, — because  "I  have 
overcome  the  world."  He  did  not  mean  that  he  had 
destroyed  the  power  of  imperial  Rome  in  Palestine, 
or  that  he  had  overthrown  the  philosophies  of  Greece 
in  their  midst.  The  Jews  had  looked  for  a  king  who 
should  overthrow  Rome  and  preserve  to  them  their 
religious  traditions;  but  while  Jesus,  from  their  point 
of  view,  did  nothing  toward  their  emancipation,  he 
actually  showed  them  how  to  be  relieved  of  both. 
The  Roman  yoke  was  the  burden  of  materialism  on  a 
people  who  were  basely  materialistic,  whose  traditions 
were  the  counterpart  of  the  same  materialism.  What, 
was  the  cause  of  their  degradation?  It  was  undoubt- 
edly their  ignorance  of  God.  To  them  God  was  still 
the  tribal  deity,  specially  looking  after  their  miserable 
interests  to  the  exclusion  of  the  rest  of  mankind ! 
Jesus  broke  up  their  shadowy  beliefs  by  revealing 
God  as  Spirit  and  Truth,  as  the  Father  of  all,  the 
divine  Principle,  Love.  The  man  who  knew  God  as 
Jesus  did,  who  could  put  his  knowledge  into  practice 
in  healing  the  sick,  destroying  sin,  and  raising  the 
dead,  had  surely  "overcome  the  world,"  for  the  world 
here  simply  means  materialism. 

To  mortals,  earthly  existence  is  a  fairly  rough 
passage  over  a  fairly  rough  sea,  not  infrequently  in 
storm.  It  is  not  easy,  one  may  say,  to  be  cheerful  in 
the  trough  of  the  wave  when  the  land  is  far  off  and  the 
thunders  crash  around.  But  we  remember  that  Christ 
Jesus,  by  spiritual  understanding,  stilled  the  storm, 


"BE    OF    GOOD    CHEER"  19 

and  "there  was  a  great  calm/'  The  flickering  beliefs 
of  mortals  must  give  place  to  enlightened  spiritual 
knowledge.  Mrs.  Eddy,  the  Discoverer  and  Founder 
of  Christian  Science,  writes  on  page  297  of  the  Chris- 
tian Science  text-book,  "Science  and  Health  with  Key 
to  the  Scriptures,"  "Until  belief  becomes  faith,  and 
faith  becomes  spiritual  understanding,  human  thought 
has  little  relation  to  the  actual  or  divine."  It  is  this 
spiritual  understanding  that  clears  the  countenance, 
makes  man  the  victor  over  conditions  seemingly  the 
most  depressing,  and  brings  the  smile  to  the  lips  and 
the  luster  to  the  eyes. 

The  world  has  unbounded  faith  in  almost  anything 
material,  from  the  homeopathic  pellet  to  the  latest 
radium  emanation.  It  is  always  waiting,  Micawber- 
like,  for  something  fresh  to  turn  up  in  the  domain  of 
physical  discovery  to  cure  it  of  its  latest  or  oldest 
pain.  And  so  it  has  dreamed  from  the  remotest  days, 
while  all  the  time  God's  presence  was  and  is  at  hand. 
Almighty  power  is  always  available  for  every  con- 
ceivable emergency,  whether  it  be  a  den  of  lions,  as 
in  Daniel's  experience,  a  flood,  as  in  Noah's,  or  a 
sea  in  storm,  as  in  the  disciples'  case.  The  heart  of 
cheer  was  ever  in  Daniel's  bosom  because  he  had  an 
intimate  knowledge  of  God's  law;  Moses*  face  shone 
with  glorified  brightness  because  he  also  knew  God's 
law;  Jesus  was  transfigured  on  the  mount  because  he 
reflected  so  perfectly  his  Father's  countenance. 

In  Science  and  Health  (p.  23)  we  read,  "Faith, 
advanced  to  spiritual  understanding,  is  the  evidence 


20  THE    PROVIDENCE    OF    GOOD 

gained  from  Spirit,  which  rebukes  sin  of  every  kind 
and  establishes  the  claims  of  God."  Faith  is  never 
substantial  or  entirely  trustworthy  until  it  is  based  on 
spiritual  understanding.  We  walk  with  uncertain 
steps  if  guided  by  a  blind  faith,  but  the  faith  that  is 
grounded  on  the  knowledge  of  God  experiences  no 
abysses. 

How  then  shall  cheerfulnesj;  be  brought  to  the 
ignorant  world  with  its  false  values,  its  unsatisfying 
pleasures  which  end  in  pain,  and  its  hopeless  grief? 
It  must  come  through  £he  application  of  the  Christ- 
method.  And  this  method  Christian  Science  has  today 
uncovered  to  the  world.  Mrs.  Eddy,  purified  by  suf- 
fering and  spiritually  enlightened  through  earnest 
study  of  the  Bible,  discovered  the  divine  Principle  of 
healing,  and  was  herself  instantaneously  healed.  This 
Principle  is  no  longer  hidden  under  the  letter  of  men's 
scrolls  or  under  the  robe  of  ecclesiasticism,  but  is  now 
openly  available  to  every  humble  seeker  after  Truth. 
"Be  of  good  cheer" ! 


THE    PROVIDENCE    OF    LOVE 

ALL  Christians  accept  the  statement  of  Paul  that 
"the  gift  of  God  is  eternal  life/'  albeit  the  most 
devout  believers  have  known  the  difficulties  of  "earn- 
ing a  living/'  If  life  is  a  gift,  it  is  not  something 
to  be  earned,  yet  we  see  that  a  man  is  not  fulfilling 
the  simplest  duty  of  his  present  existence  unless  he 
is  useful,  doing  his  share  of  good  work  in  the  world. 
Christian  Scientists  are  beginning  to  solve  the  whole 
riddle  of  the  painful  earth  by  laying  heartily  hold  of 
Principle  as  expressed  in  Jesus'  words:  "Man  shall 
not  live  by  bread  alone,  but  by  every  word  that 
proceedeth  out  of  the  mouth  of  God."  In  the  light 
of  this  scientific  truth  they  are  untangling  the  raveled 
sleave  of  care  and  beholding  the  orderly  web  of  use 
and  beauty  knit  fair  and  whole. 

The  scientific  process  of  demonstrating  that  God 
sustains  man  and  provides  for  him  begins  in  many 
cases  with  the  resolve  not  to  be  afraid.  Back  of  our 
anxieties  and  efforts  in  this  matter  of  earning  a  liv- 
ing is  a  fear  of  death,  fear  lest  we  shall  not  be  able 
to  earn  the  living  for  ourselves  or  others.  Before  they 
have  risen  to  discern  the  absolute  fact  as  stated  by 
Jesus,  "Whosoever  liveth  and  believeth  in  me  shall 
never  die,"  Christian  Scientists  have  taken  a  mental 
stand  against  "the  slings  and  arrows"  of  human  expe- 

21 


22  THE    PROVIDENCE    OF    GOOD 

rience  in  the  fact  that  eternal  life — the  God-given  life 
— is  never  touched  by  the  vicissitudes  of  so-called 
mortal  life. 

Emerson  quotes  with  approbation  a  phrase  of 
hardy  manhood  in  an  old  drama.  When  threatened 
by  a  captor  who  says,  "It  is  in  my  power  to  hang 
you/'  the  bold  one  replies,  "It  is  in  my  power  to  be 
hanged  to  scorn  you."  When  we  reach  the  place 
where  we  will  not  mentally  knuckle  under  to  "out- 
rageous fortune"  of  whatever  sort,  certain  that  our 
spiritual  life  is  superior  to  the  seeming  material  life, 
its  demands  and  dangers,  we  suddenly  find  that  we 
are  demonstrating  this  as  true  in  our  outward  experi- 
ence. The  "signs"  follow,  as  Jesus  promised.  Fear 
is  destroyed,  depression  vanishes,  and  normal  joy  in 
action  begins  to  flow  in.  A  new  pleasure  and  exhil- 
aration is  found  even  in  the  commonest  tasks.  We 
are  now  reversing  the  old  order.  Instead  of  working 
to  live,  we  begin  to  see  that  we  live  to  work.  Work — 
useful  activity — is  the  natural  expression  of  our  God- 
given  powers,  and  our  pleasure  is  in  their  exercise. 

Life  is  not  stagnation.  Life  means  activity.  How 
often  we  hear  it  said  of  some  strenuous  piece  of  ath- 
letic exercise,  "If  one  were  forced  to  do  that  for  a 
living,  it  would  seem  terribly  hard  work."  It  is  the 
fact  that  the  exertion  is  made  in  the  spirit  of  enjoy- 
ment and  in  the  light  of  a  man's  desire  to  prove  his 
powers  that  makes  sport  delightful.  When  we  are 
no  longer  driven  by  a  selfish  sense  of  need,  we  rejoice 
to  see  that  our  work  is  helpful  to  others.  As  we  work 


THE    PROVIDENCE    OF    LOVE  23 

with  this  double  joy  in  activity  and  usefulness,  what 
we  do  improves  in  quality,  and  we  do  it  more  easily. 
This  in  itself  naturally  leads  to  so-called  worldly 
advancement.  Every  employer  recognizes  as  the  test 
of  a  good  workman  his  readiness  to  do  more  than  that 
which  the  mere  letter  of  his  business  engagement 
requires.  Some  one  has  said  that  if  a  man  does  not  do 
more  than  he  is  paid  to  do,  he  will  never  be  paid  more 
for  what  he  does.  This  recognizes  that  all  good  work 
has  joy  in  it,  is  done  for  the  love  of  work,  not  for  the 
living  "earned." 

As  the  man  who  has  taken  joy  into  his  work  is 
advanced  he  finds  that  various  forms  of  drudgery  are 
eliminated.-  Higher  and  more  interesting  kinds  of 
work  come  to  him  to  be  done.  His  new  idea  that  he 
lives  joyously  by  the  gift  of  God,  not  painfully  by 
his  own  effort,  is  proved  to  be  true.  He  sees  embodied 
in  practical  experience  what  may  at  first  have  been 
but  an  unrealized  ideal. 

The  writer,  who  began  her  business  experience  by 
addressing  soap  advertisements  on  a  typewriter,  after- 
ward came  into  some  understanding  through  Chris- 
tian Science  teaching  of  what  it  means  to  be  a  child 
of  God,  possessed  of  unassailable^  eternal  life,  the  gift 
of  divine  Love.  After  a  few  years  of  patient  work 
in  more  or  less  taxing  yet  always  advancing  lines,  she 
found  herself  able  to  earn  a  good  income  simply  by 
the  exercise  of  an  artistic  talent.  Never  until  Chris- 
tian Science  showed  her  that  her  life  was  the  reflec- 
tion of  infinite  Life  had  she  even  dreamed  of  turning 


24  THE    PROVIDENCE    OF    GOOD 

this  small  gift  to  account.  When  she  began  to  under- 
stand this,  she  found  that  without  effort  on  her  part 
— beyond  its  normal  exercise — the  gift  had  flowered 
into  usefulness  to  others,  and  this  produced  the  supply 
of  her  own  need.  She  no  longer  seemed  to  herself  to 
be  earning  a  living.  She  was  doing  the  thing  she 
loved  to  do,  the  thing  she  had  kept  as  the  happy  em- 
ployment of  her  leisure.  It  was  thus  proved  that 
man  does  not  have  to  earn  his  bread  in  pain  and  diffi- 
culty. Life  is  the  gift  of  God,  and  so  is  all  that 
expresses  God's  love  and  providence  for  His  children. 


HERE    AND    HEREAFTER 

MAN  is  more  than  physical  sense  can  outline  or 
describe.  We  may  enumerate  all  the  organs 
or  divisions  of  the  human  body,  and  yet  include  noth- 
ing essential  to  immortality  or  to  real  manhood.  When 
we  refer  to  our  highest  sense  of  man,  we  invariably 
do  so  in  terms  of  Mind.  All  that  is  included  in  the 
mortal,  material  concept  of  man  is  in  a  state  of  per- 
petual change  and  decay,  though  the  individual  iden- 
tity is  not  altered  or  impaired  by  these  processes. 
The  physical  form  of  man  dies  daily  in  some  degree, 
and  yet  the  real  life  of  man  remains  uninjured.  Is 
life  any  more  affected  when  material  law  declares  the 
entire  body  dead?  We  cannot  speak  of  man  as  dead 
in  terms  of  Mind,  but  of  matter  only;  hence  in  Mind 
man  must  live  on  continuously,  unaffected  by,  because 
not  included  in,  material  conditions. 

Although  the  Founder  of  Christianity  declared  that 
those  who  kept  his  sayings  should  not  see  death,  the 
possibility  of  living  on  without  dying  has  been  deemed 
too  transcendentally  spiritual  for  human  attainment. 
The  belief  that  life  proceeds  from  something  other 
than  God,  or  good,  having  no  truth  in  it,  eventually 
collapses  in  the  opposite  belief  of  death.  This  conse- 
quent of  a  false  view  of  Life  being  so  inevitable,  mor- 
tals have  declared  death  a  divine,  unescapable  law, 
25 


26  THE    PROVIDENCE    OF    GOOD 

and  thus  have  laid  upon  God  the  terrible  and  revolt- 
ing charge  of  destroying  His  own  offspring.  From 
this  unlovely  concept  of  God,  who  is  Love  and  Life 
and  Truth  only,  Christian  Science  would  turn  human 
thought  to  the  apprehension  of  the  Supreme  Being 
as  having  no  partnership  with  nor  complicity  in  sin 
or  death. 

While  the  logic  of  Scripture  and  the  demonstra- 
tions of  Jesus  support  the  Christian  Science  teaching 
that  death  is  unreal,  because  not  of  God,  the  present 
human  sense  of  existence  is  on  too  low  a  plane  fully 
to  realize  the  exhaustless  vitality  expressed  in  God's 
spiritual  man.  Mortals  therefore  continue  to  pass 
from  the  cognizance,  of  present  environment  into  that 
plane  or  condition  of  human  consciousness  called  the 
hereafter,  or  beyond  the  grave.  Just  what  lies  across 
this  "great  divide"  is  the  mystery  that  troubles  the 
world,  a  mystery  that  has  ever  attracted  the  hope  and 
fear  of  the  weary  and  sinning  human  race. 

While  Christian  Scientists  do  not  deny  the  phenom- 
enon of  death  as  a  tenacious  but  temporary  human 
belief,  the  result  of  mortal  ignorance  of  Life  as  God, 
they  are  endeavoring  to  obey  their  Leader's  teaching 
by  cultivating  faith  in  Life  rather  than  death.  That 
which  appears  on  the  surface  is  not  always  the  fact, 
as  daily  experience  proves.  What  death  appears  to 
be  and  do  was  not  accepted  as  fact  by  Jesus,  but 
rejected,  and  his  example  should  appeal  to  all  who 
have  faith  in  it.  What  he  said  and  did  regarding 
death  has  the  same  authority  and  force  as  what  he 


HERE    AND    HEREAFTER  27 

said  and  did  regarding  sin  and  disease.  While  our 
growth  in  goodness  and  spirituality  may  be  as  yet  too 
feeble  to  prove  completely  all  that  we  believe,  we 
should  be  thankful  that  Jesus  has  done  so,  thus  plac- 
ing his  teachings  forever  above  mere  speculation. 
Christian  Scientists  accept  as  real  not  that  which  is 
seen,  but  that  which  is  unseen  to  material  sense,  and 
in  this  they  feel  that  they  are  doing  only  what  the 
Scriptures  enjoin  upon  them.  The  whole  tenor  of 
inspired  Scriptural  teaching  is  that  God  only  is  the 
Life  of  man,  hence  for  man  to  die  must  be  a  mistake; 
and  Christian  Scientists  are  seeking  to  understand 
this  teaching  and  to  make  it  practical. 

The  problem  before  every  mortal  is  how  to  be  de- 
livered from  evil,  a  term  that  includes  all  that  is 
known  as  sin,  disease,  and  death,  with  all  the  miseries 
that  follow  in  their  wake.  The  evil  conditions  in 
human  thought,  of  which  death  is  the  outcome,  are 
not  evaded  by  dying,  any  more  than  the  ills  of  the 
flesh  are  avoided  by  getting  sick.  The  period  required 
for  the  perfect  solution  of  the  problem  of  being,  for 
our  growth  out  of  the  flesh  and  evil  into  the  stature 
of  perfect  man,  may  not,  perhaps,  be  encompassed 
before  the  shadow  of  mortality  falls  across  our  path; 
but  we  may  know  that  individual  character  and  iden- 
tity are  no  more  affected  by  it  than  by  the  darkness 
that  has  divided  today  from  yesterday.  Christian 
Science  has  proven  the  unreality  of  disease,  and  by 
the  same  understanding  of  Principle  maintains  that 
the  immortality  of  man  is  unbroken,  despite  the  mate- 


28  THE    PROVIDENCE    OF    GOOD 

rial  evidence  to  the  contrary.  That  there  is  no  death 
is  the  joyous  note  of  Christianity,  the  glorious  sun- 
burst of  truth  in  Christian  Science,  scattering  the 
clouds  of  sorrow,  and  giving  mortals  a  glimpse  of 
those  higher  planes  of  being  to  which  Jesus  has  led 
the  way,  and  where  God  alone  is  the  light  and  the 
Life  of  man. 

Is  it  truth  or  is  it  error,  a  right  or  a  wrong  law, 
that  has  laid  upon  mankind  the  doom  of  death,  sepa- 
rating loved  ones,  and  draping  the  world  in  perpetual 
mourning?  What  human  sense  of  pity  and  love  can 
measure  the  depths  of  mortal  sorrow,  the  anguish  of 
stricken  hearts  beating  pitifully  against  the  unrespon- 
sive silence  of  the  grave?  What  but  a  heart  of  stone 
could  behold  the  heartache,  the  unfathomable  misery, 
the  blinding,  bitter  tears,  that  daily  mark  the  course 
of  mortal  being,  and  not  melt  before  it,  or  joyfully 
deliver  if  possessed  of  the  power?  What  but  an  un- 
conceivable monstrosity,  devoid  of  love  or  pity,  could 
darken  the  joy  of  being  with  such  a  cruel,  bitter  curse, 
and  yet  require  in  return  the  homage  of  our  love  and 
reverence?  Thanks  to  God  and  Christian  Science 
that  this  pagan  thought  of  God  is  passing  out  of 
Christianity,  thereby  giving  mortals  the  liberty  to  love 
instead  of  the  necessity  to  fear  Him. 

If  it  were  true  that  man  really  died,  what  healing 
balm  would  remain  wherewith  to  minister  to  the 
broken  heart,  or  to  comfort  the  widow  and  the  father- 
less? When  Jesus  gave  back  her  son  to  the  widow 
of  Nain,  he  gave  the  lie  to  death.  His  tender,  pitying 


HERE    AND    HEREAFTER  29 

love,  expressing  the  divine  compassion,  was  not  called 
forth  because  he  believed  in  the  necessity  or  reality 
of  suffering  and  sorrow,  but  because  of  mortal  igno- 
rance of  man's  true  being,  permanent  in  God.  Our 
Master's  sympathy  for  this  extremity  of  earthly 
sorrow  was  touchingly  expressed  at  the  grave  of  his 
friend  Lazarus,  and  he  there  exposed  the  falsity  of 
the  death  claim  in  his  demonstration  of  the  indestructi- 
bility of  Life  and  its  manifestation.  In  this  he  also 
showed  the  needlessness  of  human  grief,  for  was  not 
the  loved  one  alive  and  well  even  when  material  law 
plead  for  decay  and  corruption?  Our  present  under- 
standing of  the  Christ,  Truth,  may  be  too  material  to 
recall  our  friends  from  the  shadow  that  seems  to 
envelop  our  sense  of  them;  but  we  know  that  with 
them  as  with  Lazarus  life  has  gone  on  unbroken  and 
uncorrupted. 

The  grace  and  charm  of  manhood  and  womanhood 
are  not  constituted  of  flesh  and  blood,  hence  they  are 
immune  from  the  material  law  of  waste  and  decay. 
The  pleasure  of  true  friendship  and  the  joy  of  com- 
panionship never  drew  their  life  from  matter,  and 
are  not  involved  in  the  ruin  of  any  material  concept. 
A  melody  does  not  lose  its  sweetness  because  ears 
have  ceased  to  hear  it.  The  beliefs  of  material  per- 
ception, sight,  sound,  touch,  do  not  decide  what  is, 
but  what  seems  to  be,  and  hence  cannot  be  interpreters 
of  truth.  That  which  God  decrees  for  man  is  all  he 
can  legitimately  know  and  experience,  and  what  man 
reflects  of  good  must  abide  with  him  forever. 


30  THE    PROVIDENCE    OF    GOOD 

The  gracious  qualities  of  departed  friends,  their 
generous  impulses,  kindly  sympathies,  and  loyal  love, 
have  not  been  stifled,  nor  even  touched,  by  death. 
All  that  makes  man  lovable  and  good  belongs  to 
Mind,  over  which  the  grave  has  no  power.  (See 
Science  and  Health,  p.  291.)  Whatever  was  true 
and  good  is  so  forever.  Beauty  and  joy,  constancy, 
tenderness,  and  love,  were  never  laid  away  in  the 
tomb,  nor  deprived  of  their  perennial  expression. 
These  are  emanations  of  the  divine  nature,  and  are 
not  influenced  by  the  supposed  law  of  mortality. 
Mortals  may  find  it  hard  to  disbelieve  that  their 
friends  have  died,  with  all  the  phenomena  of  that 
belief  before  them;  but  Christians  must  some  time 
learn  the  power  of  Truth  over  this  as  well  as  over 
other  forms  of  error.  No  sweeter  assurance  of  man's 
continuous  being  has  ever  fallen  upon  human  ears 
than  that  conveyed  in  our  Lord's  words  to  Martha, 
"He  that  belie veth  in  me,  though  he  were  dead,  yet 
shall  he  live:  and  whosoever  liveth  and  believeth  in 
me  shall  never  die." 

Just  what  may  be  the  conditions  and  environments 
of  those  "on  the  other  side"  is  not  so  important  as  to 
know  that  man  is  ever  within  the  consciousness  of 
God,  in  whose  presence  is  fulness  of  joy.  To  him 
who  has  obeyed  his  highest  ideal,  life  must  be  pro- 
gressive hereafter  as  well  as  here.  The  activities  of 
courageous  and  noble  purpose  gather  fresh  impulse 
and  strength  from  every  lesson  and  experience,  bear- 
ing onward  to  fulfilment  the  heart's  pure  desire.  To 


HERE    AND    WERE'AFIER  31 

pass  from  holy  work  here  does  not  mean  idleness 
hereafter,  but  continued  service  in  the  line  of  light 
until  the  Master's  example  has  been  followed  to  its 
highest  point.  Life  must  ever  grow  broader  and  more 
invincible  to  such  a  one.  No  effort  or  operation  of 
evil  can  narrow  the  opportunities  or  the  privileges  of 
the  consecrated  Christian.  Wherever  error  advances 
its  claims,  whethe*  on  this  or  some  other  plane  of 
belief,  there  will  the  champions  of  Truth  be  needed. 
Human  wisdom  is  very  finite  and  reaches  little  farther 
than  it  sees.  We  need  a  broader  comprehension  of 
being,  wherein  death  does  not  mark  the  finis  of  the 
human  problem  but  is  one  of  its  errors,  the  last  to 
be  corrected  and  overcome  through  an  understanding 
of  Truth.  Until  this  understanding  is  attained,  mor- 
ta^s  must  continue  their  strife  with  error's  delusions, 
ever  working  and  growing,  ever  climbing  upward 
toward  the  summit  of  man's  perfect  spiritual  con- 
sciousness. 

Our  Master  has  wisely  said  that  the  evil  of  the 
present  is  sufficient  for  us  to  meet  without  taking 
thought  of  that  which  may  await  us.  And  so  while 
Christian  Scientists  make  no  special  claim  for  them- 
selves, they  desire  to  think  and  talk  as  little  as  pos- 
sible of  death  as  well  as  of  sickness,  rather  to  devote 
their  thought  and  attention  to  health  and  life.  Never- 
theless they  desire,  so  far  as  they  may,  to  minister  to 
those  in  sorrow,  to  bind  up  the  broken-hearted,  to 
bear  the  messages  of  Life  instead  of  death  to  men. 
Let  us  rejoice  for  all  the  good  that  has  been  and 


32  THE    PROVIDENCE    OF    GOOD 

» 

is  being  manifested  and  for  the  blessed  assurance 
that  man  ever  lives  and  moves  in  God.  Hand  may 
not  clasp  hand,  nor  voices  mingle  in  sweet  discourse, 
but  the  Father's  care  still  shelters  us,  whether  here 
or  there.  In  God's  perfect  creation  each  has  his 
appointed  place  and  work,  unhindered  by  the  fitful 
shadows  of  false  mortal  beliefs,  which  have  no  coming 
or  going  in  the  love-lighted  universe  of  Mind.  Some 
time  every  wrong  must  cease,  every  error  yield  to 
Truth,  every  shadow  in  human  consciousness  be  swept 
away;  then  man  will  behold  himself  as  God's  image 
and  likeness. 


Periodicals  Published  by 
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Fahnouth  and  St.  Paul  Sts..  Boston.  Mass..   U.  S.  A. 

The  Christian  Science  Journal 

Founded  April,  1883,  by  Mary  Baker  Eddy,  Discoverer  and  Founder 
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A  weekly  newspaper  for  the  home,  published  every  Saturday,  con- 
taining news  items  of  general  interest,  and  contributed  and  selected 
articles,  testimonies  of  healing,  and  timely  editorials  in  connection  with 
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Der  Herold  der  Christian  Science 

A  monthly  magazine  printed  in  German.  It  contains  original  and 
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A  daily  newspaper  published  every  afternoon,  except  Sunday,  of 
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The  Christian  Science  Quarterly 

Published  January,  April,  July,  and  October. 

Contains  the  Lesson -Sermons  which  are  read  at  the  Sunday  services 
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